Share this:

Rev. Deborah Lee introduces the judges — four former detainees by ICE at
West County Detention Facility — at a symbolic public tribunal in front of the empty table of defendants, which
include US Attorney General Jeff Session, Contra Costa County Sheriff David
Livingston and Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahearn. (Courtesy Seung
Lee/staff)

RICHMOND — Immigration rights organizations held a public “tribunal” Saturday at the West County Detention Facility to symbolically put the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local sheriff’s offices on trial for their alleged systemic abuses.

Led by organizations Freedom for Immigrants and Detention Watch Network, more than 100 people demanded ICE, Contra Costa Sheriff’s office and Alameda County Sheriff’s office stop what those in attendance say are abuses and human rights violations against detained undocumented immigrants.

About 200 people are held at the Richmond jail as they wait for court dates, visa applications and deportations. More than 440,000 people are detained across 200 immigration jails around the United States every year, according to Freedom for Immigrants.

Some of the judges in the public tribunal were immigrants previously arrested by ICE and detained at the West County Detention Facility in north Richmond for as long as 15 months. They demanded the end of all ICE detention centers nationwide. But as long as the centers exist, they called for a variety of improvements for detainees, such as better medical and mental health care, ending restrictions for communicating with legal counsel and prohibiting overuse of force by officers.

“I was in this ugly place for six months,” said Fernando Carillo, a San Jose-based cable technician from Mexico who was detained in WCDF until April 2018. After ICE appealed a judge’s order of Carillo’s release, Carillo said “it’s proof that they want to do everything in their power to separate families.”

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, ICE Director Thomas Homan, ICE’s San Francisco field director David Jennings, Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston, and Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahearn were on trial in absentia. Organizers say all five were served notices to appear.

Instead, an empty table with their nametags represented them as defendants. The tribunal has no legal authority or power.

ICE did not provide an immediate comment to this news organization. Contra Costa County Sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Alameda County Sheriff’s office declined to comment about the tribunal to this news organization but said they follow California’s sanctuary law.

Activists, attorneys, artists, religious leaders, and professors from UC Berkeley and UCSF gathered at the event either as tribunal judges or moderators.

Psychiatrists spoke in the tribunal as witnesses, arguing that the increase of solitary confinement and months of detainment lead to higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder.

One local immigrant rights lawyer demanded Livingston and his office stop publishing the names and release dates of inmates from detention.

“It is dangerous because ICE can just pick these people up (after they are released),” said Contra Costa County Immigrant Rights’ Alliance coordinator Tony Bravo.

Activists say they plan to hold similar tribunals across the country under the #ICEonTrial campaign, alleging ICE has been increasingly retaliating against immigration activists. Organizers hope the tribunals will galvanize a national network of immigration activists to help file litigations and record requests about detention practices, according to Detention Watch Network executive director Silky Shah.

Seung covers Apple and personal technology for the Bay Area News Group. He was previously a technology reporter for Newsweek and a weekly columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. Seung grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from UC Berkeley.

More in Politics

Not only was racial animus a likely factor when Charter Communications repeatedly rejected negotiations with Entertainment Studios, the TV programmer, but Charter's attempt to shield itself from allegations of bias using the First Amendment is also without merit, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Trey Glenn, who oversaw eight states in the Southeast as the EPA's Region 4 leader, faces charges of using his office for personal gain and soliciting or receiving a "thing of value" from a principal or lobbyist, according to the Alabama Ethics Commission.